If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

A Christian university that expelled a lesbian student for dating another woman wants her to repay the $6,000 scholarship she received to attend classes there.

Danielle Powell didn’t know she was a lesbian when she first enrolled at Grace University — a private, Christian university in Nebraska. Nevertheless, she began a relationship with another woman in the fall of 2011, after several years at the university.

Eventually, one of Powell’s advisers found out about the relationship and notified university authorities, who convened a hearing. Powell was outed to friends and family for the first time, according to The Huffington Post.

Eventually, the university suspended Powell indefinitely, and instructed her to undergo a restoration process involving counseling and therapy before she could re-enroll.

Powell began the restoration process, but the university declined to re-admit her, since she was still dating a woman. After Iowa legalized gay marriage, Powell married her girlfriend, Michelle Rogers.

Same-sex relationships violate school policy, according to the university’s student handbook.

“Any student involved in sexually immoral behavior, including premarital sex, adultery, and homosexual acts, is at minimum placed on University probation and may be subject to a Judiciary Hearing,” says the handbook for the university.

Chastity is not the only restriction that Grace places on its students. The handbook instructs each student to ask himself whether a given activity will “provide an opportunity for Satan to get a stronghold in an area of my life” before choosing to engage in the activity.

To this end, dancing, gambling and drinking are explicitly forbidden on and off campus. The viewing of R-rated movies and certain television channels — including HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, MTV, E! Entertainment Television and Black Entertainment Television — is also prohibited.

Powell would like her credits transferred to another school, but Grace is withholding her transcript until she repays a $6,300 tuition scholarship, she alleged.

Broke and unable to resume her studies at another college unless Grace releases the transcript, Powell and her wife have started a petition on Change.org that simply asks the university to forgive the debt. So far, over 28,000 people have signed the petition.

Michael James, vice president of Grace University, denied that the university was withholding Powell’s transcript until she pays.

“We were clearly willing to provide transcripts and help the student transfer to another university,” he said in a statement to World Magazine.

He also explained that asking her to repay the scholarship was an automatic step, since the federal government takes back the money if the student doesn’t finish at least 60 percent of the semester.

But Powell claims the university has so far only been willing to provide a student copy of her transcript, which is useless for transferal.

In an interview with the World-Herald, Powell said she attended Grace because of the scholarship, and because she could play volleyball there. Though she was a Christian at the time, Powell was not prepared for the strict biblical culture, she said.

Grace is a nondenominational Christian university.

James pointed out that Powell did sign an agreement to abide by Grace’s rules, which include no same-sex dating.

Several lesbians have been engaged in high-profile battles with school authorities in recent weeks. A lesbian schoolteacher recently won a lawsuit against a Catholic school that fired her for undergoing artificial insemination. And the case of Kate Hunt — the 18-year-old high school student who was expelled and arrested for having a sexual relationship with an underage female student — has garnered national media attention.

I think the school has the right to kick her out. I don't think she should have to repay scholarship money, however.

I have never understood why anyone would want to go to a school that tells you who you can date, what websites you can visit and what movies you can watch. Obviously, there are people who do want to go to a college like that.

I think the school has the right to kick her out. I don't think she should have to repay scholarship money, however.

I have never understood why anyone would want to go to a school that tells you who you can date, what websites you can visit and what movies you can watch. Obviously, there are people who do want to go to a college like that.

Why doesn't she have to pay it back? She violated the rules and got booted so she should pay it back

I think the school has the right to kick her out. I don't think she should have to repay scholarship money, however.

I have never understood why anyone would want to go to a school that tells you who you can date, what websites you can visit and what movies you can watch. Obviously, there are people who do want to go to a college like that.

Originally Posted by Bailey

Why doesn't she have to pay it back? She violated the rules and got booted so she should pay it back

According to the Huffpo article, the debt is the result of federal requirements:

James said anyone who withdraws before the semester is 60 percent complete will usually owe a balance, because federal law obligates Grace to return Title IV funds -- federal grants, loans and work-study funds -- on behalf of the withdrawn student. "Suspension or expulsion constitutes withdrawal," James said in an email.

Sounds to me like they could have petitioned the federal government to forgive the debt, rather than the school. Generally, schools allow a student to set up a payment plan so that they don't have to do it in one lump sum, and they'll free up transcripts as long as the payments are being met, so that a student can transfer. Also, the article cited the petition to forgive the debt, which had garnered 17,000 signatures. The total debt is $6,300. If each signatory to the petition had given 50 cents, they'd have been able to pay off the debt and have cash to spare. Also, another article states that the Huffpo piece may not have been entirely honest about the transcripts:

The Huffington Post reported that the school refused transcripts until she paid, but James denies those allegations: “The letter that they referred to in [the article] clearly stated that we were clearly willing to provide transcripts and help the student transfer to another university.” http://www.worldmag.com/2013/06/grac...esbian_student

My take on this is that she signed a contract, and that she failed to keep her end of it. In doing so, she incurred obligations and debts. If she'd been sleeping with a man instead of a woman, the school's rules against premarital sex would have still been in effect and she would have had the same problems, so unless someone can show selective enforcement, it's not a discrimination issue. It also looks as if, by publicly proposing in a video that went viral, Powell was seeking a public confrontation with the school. If so, then her claims of having been a naive Christian when she arrived at the school may not be entirely accurate. It wouldn't be the first time that someone applied to a school or organization in order to raise their own personal issues, with no intention of conforming to the rules. Think Shannon Faulkner and VMI.

According to the Huffpo article, the debt is the result of federal requirements:

James said anyone who withdraws before the semester is 60 percent complete will usually owe a balance, because federal law obligates Grace to return Title IV funds -- federal grants, loans and work-study funds -- on behalf of the withdrawn student. "Suspension or expulsion constitutes withdrawal," James said in an email.

Sounds to me like they could have petitioned the federal government to forgive the debt, rather than the school. Generally, schools allow a student to set up a payment plan so that they don't have to do it in one lump sum, and they'll free up transcripts as long as the payments are being met, so that a student can transfer. Also, the article cited the petition to forgive the debt, which had garnered 17,000 signatures. The total debt is $6,300. If each signatory to the petition had given 50 cents, they'd have been able to pay off the debt and have cash to spare. Also, another article states that the Huffpo piece may not have been entirely honest about the transcripts:

The Huffington Post reported that the school refused transcripts until she paid, but James denies those allegations: “The letter that they referred to in [the article] clearly stated that we were clearly willing to provide transcripts and help the student transfer to another university.” http://www.worldmag.com/2013/06/grac...esbian_student

My take on this is that she signed a contract, and that she failed to keep her end of it. In doing so, she incurred obligations and debts. If she'd been sleeping with a man instead of a woman, the school's rules against premarital sex would have still been in effect and she would have had the same problems, so unless someone can show selective enforcement, it's not a discrimination issue. It also looks as if, by publicly proposing in a video that went viral, Powell was seeking a public confrontation with the school. If so, then her claims of having been a naive Christian when she arrived at the school may not be entirely accurate. It wouldn't be the first time that someone applied to a school or organization in order to raise their own personal issues, with no intention of conforming to the rules. Think Shannon Faulkner and VMI.

This is just another battle to change decent schools that are against this kind of lifestyle. they never stop...

"Danielle Powell didn’t know she was a lesbian when she first enrolled at Grace University "

Wait a tick! I thought that homosexuality was an affliction that the homo's are 'born' with which means that she would have known about her same sex desires a long time before enrolling in college.

I'm not sure I buy into that "I didn't know back then" routine either, but it's a fairly common claim. I have even asked someone who said that if he had had sex prior to "knowing he was gay" and when he said "Yes." I asked, "Well what precisely did you think you were doing?" The answer was that one could have sex without thinking in terms of sexual orientation, especially if that analysis or thought process was outside your cultural preparation or understanding.

It all sounds like Gender Studies crappola to me, but then I have so little compassion or empathy .... whatever.

As I understand it, since women are often raised in the belief that men are a necessary evil and that having sex with men might not be desirable but it's expected, you seem to have more late bloomers of the lesbian variety. It's not that they didn't have same-sex fantasies or desires , but that they didn't see themselves as lesbians until a certain point.

I don't know why the deviants are trying to sue Christian schools for breaking their contracts, I thought they weren't trying to shove their lifestyle down the throat of religion. \

Many people view colleges and universities as being centers of knowledge with the expectation of enlightenment. It seems like an oxymoron to have a university dedicated to cultural backwardness and academics corrupted by religion. Also, many people see colleges and universities as inherently government supported and/or falling under a sort of public accommodation definition.

Many people view colleges and universities as being centers of knowledge with the expectation of enlightenment. It seems like an oxymoron to have a university dedicated to cultural backwardness and academics corrupted by religion. Also, many people see colleges and universities as inherently government supported and/or falling under a sort of public accommodation definition.

Well you are wrong (as most of your posts tend to be). You should look at the corruption of liberalism in school not Religion.